IT takes one to know one.
Meralco coach Norman Black, who suited up for three games for the Detroit Pistons in the NBA 1980-81 season before becoming a decorated import and Grand slam tactician in the PBA, admitted Kai Sotto still has a long way to go before he gets ready for the world’s biggest stage.
“I’m not sure whether he’s ready for the NBA at this moment,” Black said last Saturday on Radyo5 92.3 News FM’s Power and Play program hosted by former PBA commissioner Noli Eala.
“I think he still has to improve more,” he added.
Black pointed out that the 7-foot-3 Sotto must either improve his inside play or develop a deadly outside shooting to succeed in his bid to become the first homegrown Filipino to gain NBA foothold.
“I think he has to become a little bit more powerful around the basket. It’s either he has to become more powerful around the basket or he has to really perfect his three-point shot, one or the other,” Black said.
“In other words, he’s gonna be out there stretching the floor like a (Dallas Mavericks star Kristaps) Porzingis or somebody along those lines, a guy who can consistently hit the three, or he has to be able to hold his own better underneath the basket.”
Sotto, 18, is set to bring his act to Adelaide in the National Basketball League of Australia after agreeing to a multi-year deal.
He was supposed to see action for Ignite in the NBA G League but opted to return to the country and play for Gilas in the third window of the Asia Cup qualifiers last February in Clark.
A Gilas Pilipinas deputy, Black, 63, is convinced Sotto has improved.
“Definitely, Kai has improved a lot. From his high school days at Ateneo up to this point, he has become a much stronger player, a much more aggressive player. I was really impressed with him in the practices,” Black, who also steered Ateneo to a five-peat in the UAAP from 2008-2012, said.
